P C Mohanan and J V Meenakshi: Dissenters who chose to quit over data

Mohanan and Meenakshi cited the withholding of the publication of the NSSO's employment survey for 2017-18 and a lack of consultation with the Commission before releasing the backdated GDP series

The man who took up statistics to survive the job scarcity in the 1970s has raked up a political storm over a jobs survey that shows unemployment at a record high. 

P C Mohanan resigned as the acting chairman of the National Statistical Commission (NSC) along with member J V Meenakshi earlier this week to protest against the non-publication of the Periodic Labour Force Survey. 

The report accessed by Business Standard shows that the unemployment rate stood at 6.1 percent, the highest since 1972-73, in the survey conducted between July 2017 and June 2018.

Having dedicated his career solely to data as an